Corvette E-Ray Hybrid Achieves High Performance, High Price Tag

­We’ve spoken before about luxury EVs clearly not aimed at the average consumer – the EV Cadillac Escalade and the EV Ferrari, amongst others – and the 2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray is set to follow in their gold-encrusted footsteps.

The good news – the E-Ray runs about the same damage as the track-focused Z06. The bad news – the E-Ray is about 40K more than the base C8 Corvette Stingray.

But let’s be honest – no one seeking out a Corvette (internal combustion engine, EV, or hybrid) is looking for a thrifty option. And the E-Ray definitely isn’t.

The Corvette E-Ray is a hybrid combining a small-block V8 driving the rear wheels with an electrically powered front axle, and apparently, it was always planned as part of the eighth generation C8 model line.

Though apparently, the better comparison is with the E-Ray and the Z06, with near-identical prices and very similar speeds – a quarter-mile at 10.6 seconds and 130 mph for the Z06 and 10.5 seconds and 129 mph for the E-Ray.

The E-Ray’s gas-fed 6.2-liter V-8 driving the rear wheels is identical to the standard Stingray’s, and along with the 160-hp electric motor driving the front axle, it amounts to a combined 655 horsepower.

The electric front axle also includes a “stealth mode,” up to 45 mph, and because it scores a 19 mpg EPA rating in combined city and highway, the E-Ray avoids the “gas-guzzler tax”, which ranges from $1,000 to $7,700, depending on the MPG.

The E-Ray should go on sale late 2023.